Category: Technology

Where have they gone?

After reunification in 1990, Germany's navy suddenly had hundreds of boats and ships at its disposal. Many of them were dispensable for political purposes and were sold or utilised worldwide. At the end of the Cold War in 1990, the Bundesmarine was a powerful and operationally ready navy capable of high-intensity combat. The Bundesmarine's mission was based on credible, conventional deterrence against the Warsaw Pact navies in the North Atlantic and in the North and Baltic Seas. At the time, the German Navy comprised around 175 boats and ships as well as 110 Tornado fighter-bombers. With the end of the bloc confrontation, politics and society demanded a clear peace dividend...

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Hypersonic weapons: fast to the target

Russia, China and, more recently, North Korea already claim to have hypersonic weapons. Now the US armed forces are also pushing ahead with the development of such missiles. The US armed forces have been endeavouring to develop hypersonic weapons for around 15 years. In 2019, it was decided to accelerate American research and testing in view of the development of hypersonic weapons in Russia and China. According to the Pentagon, the introduction of these missiles, which can reach more than Mach 5, is now on the horizon. The Pentagon's development programmes fall into two categories: hypersonic cruise missiles and stratospheric glide missiles. The cruise missiles achieve their flight speed using a supersonic combustion ramjet, or scramjet for short. Air is...

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Fully networked

In future, every soldier, every sensor and every effector will be digitally connected with each other in order to control operations down to the last detail. But if the network fails, mission tactics will determine success. The term Multi-Domain Operations (MDO) is currently on everyone's lips; the US armed forces summarise it in their Joint All-Domain Command and Control (JADC2) strategy, while the British armed forces call the corresponding concept Multi-Domain Integration (MDI). Within NATO, the concept for the Alliance Approach to Multi-Domain Operations is currently being developed by Allied Command Transformation in cooperation with Allied Command Operations. The US concept integrates -...

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Less through more

Following the publication of the article "The art of shipbuilding" in issue 9-2021, the editorial team received enquiries from readers who wanted to know more about swath technology. Carsten Wibel from Abeking & Rasmussen explains the principles and advantages of swath in his article. A ship designed according to the swath principle should move very little, even in heavy seas, and the crew should only have to deal with low accelerations. The special feature is the reduced waterline area of the two hull halves, hence the term small waterplane area twin hull. Almost 100 boats and ships have been built worldwide using this principle to date - 26 of them at Abeking & Rasmussen...

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Maritime experts

Anyone who believes that a ship with modern equipment is a product from northern Germany should take a look at the suppliers from inland areas. The maritime high-tech industry is particularly well represented in Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria. Many companies based in the federal states of Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria are considered indispensable and traditionally occupy a central position in the overall structure of the German maritime industry and economy. With an annual turnover of over ten billion euros and more than 60,000 jobs, they generate around 20 per cent of maritime value added in Germany and provide 15 per cent of jobs. It was no coincidence that the 11th National Maritime...

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